Features

Facebook released a new set of community guidelines this week centered around ‘sexual solicitation’. The guidelines specifically harm LGBTI users, by disallowing them from discussing their identities. In justifying the new community guidelines, Facebook wrote in its policy rationale that the discussion of drawing ‘attention to sexual violence and exploitation’ is important, but it wants(…)

Due to work and influence from pro-life and conservative figures, the Trump administrationhas created uncertainty around the future of HIV research. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has a contract with the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF). The school’s work relies on using fetal tissue for research into diseases like AIDS and Parkinson’s. Now,(…)

Transgender Miss Universe contestant Angela Ponce has said that her victory would send a message to the contest’s former owner, US President Donald Trump. Angela Ponce is set to represent Spain in the Miss Universe 2018 pageant, which is set to be held in Bangkok, Thailand, on December 17. Her participation is particularly poignant as the contest was(…)

Young black American gay and bisexual men are 16 times more likely to acquire HIV than white gay and bisexual men, according to a new study. Northwestern University found black 16-29-year-old men who have sex with men (MSM) are the most at risk of HIV. This is despite reporting fewer sexual partners, more frequent testing(…)

A university in New Jersey, USA, has decided that a Chick-fil-A restaurant will not be built on campus because of the chain’s anti-LGBT+ views. Students at Rider University reportedly voted for the Chick-fil-A branch as their top choice for a new food outlet on campus in a poll in spring. However, in an open letter(…)

Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equalirt Index takes the ethical guesswork out of Black Friday. As quickly as Thanksgiving comes and leaves us stuffed and merry, the madness of Black Friday descends upon us. There’s nothing quite as American as the gluttony of Black Friday. With the objective being getting as many deals, deals, deals as(…)

Pharmaceutical company Gilead is ‘intentionally withholding’ a safer drug used for HIV treatments, a lawsuit claims. The company holds the patent on Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate (TDF), an antiretroviral drug for people living with HIV. If routinely taken, this can regulate the viral load. However, a lawsuit filed in US federal court on 17 November alleges that(…)

The Trump administration has quietly gutted transgender rights guidance for federal employees, telling agencies to treat people based on “biological sex.” ThinkProgress reports that revisions were made to public guidance on the website of the government’s Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to remove transgender rights protections. The previous guidance, drawn up under President Barack Obama, instructed federal(…)

You can now report Twitter users for targeted deadnaming and misgendering. Twitter updated its Terms of Service last night (23 November) to protect trans people from online abuse. The new protection comes under the heading: ‘Repeated and/or non-consensual slurs, epithets, racist and sexist tropes or other content that degrades someone.’ It continues: ‘We prohibit targeting(…)

Photo: Facebook. Viccky Gutierrez, 33, was stabbed and had her body set ablaze inside her Los Angeles home on January 10. The transgender community is still one of the most targeted minorities in the United States. Not only are gender-nonconforming individuals being harassed and attacked on the streets, but the government is attempting to erase their(…)